UAP IMAGED FROM AIRCRAFT By Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos Manager, FOTOCAT Project. NARCAP Rep, Spain
[email protected] Richard F. Haines, Ph.D. Chief Scientist, NARCAP
[email protected] Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos Richard F. Haines, Ph.D. A preliminary (not comprehensive) scan of the FOTOCAT archives for reports of UAP photographs, films and videos obtained airborne has disclosed 171 events of this category. Probably this number exceeds any reader expectations; however, many more such cases must exist, either in the large mass of the FOTOCAT files, requiring a large, time-consuming search effort, or simply unknown to us. Our guess is that there will be some 200 cases or more of this type in total. UAP Imaged from Aircraft (July 17, 1997; Guatemala, Mexico, D.F.) In order to establish the basis for a future review paper centered on UAP images obtained from commercial, military and private aircraft, the present note Copyright 2008 National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena is intended to provide an initial working catalogue of known reports of this type, where some basic data have been included, and also to call for reports or references to reports not found in the enclosed spreadsheet. (Click on the image to open the spreadsheet.) UAP researchers worldwide are requested to actively contribute information so that a comprehensive catalogue can be developed. A prospective view from the current records provide the following highlights: * The earlier accounts correspond to the foo-fighters of the World War II period, amounting to 11 photos. air incidents in which photos were taken are arranged by year as * In 25 (15%) of the entries there is no visual counterpart to the pictures or movie frames, this is, the object was not seen by the photographer at the time. * Regarding the format for these images, there are 111 photographic (still) cases, 42 movie films (up to the late eighties), and 18 obtained with video cameras (since late seventies). * The single most repetitive witness-cameraperson source is Ray Stanford (12 entries), followed by Yusuke Matsumura (5 entries), David Crockett (3 entries), and Kenneth Arnold, Delio Ribas, and Roberto Ruiz (2 entries each). * 77 reports (45%) have a conventional explanation, according to the sources consulted. Nevertheless, at this early stage of this compilation and case- investigation, this is a highly premature assessment. An attempt will be made to carefully review as many of these cases as possible. Copyright 2008 National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena *It comes as no surprise to realize that most of these photographs come from the United States (55), followed by Italy (11) , Argentina Mexico (7), Germany (6 each), and finally by three countries which add 5 cases each: China , Great Britain and Norway . These nations are the main case contributors to date. The remaining 49 air encounters with photographs are distributed among 28 different nations, proof of a truly global phenomenon. The enclosed spreadsheet should be considered as under construction, i.e., we are well aware that some data are missing and it is with this caution that it is released now. Its purpose is only to stimulate other colleagues around the world to let us know about information on reports not included in this list. FOTOCAT closed on December 31, 2005, as does this catalogue. For the benefit of researchers, the attached preliminary catalogue has been arranged by country. This will aid others in their research and the detection of missing cases. We respectfully request that new cases not listed here be sent to one or both of the authors. Our long-term objective is to complete this catalogue with the additional cases that other researchers submit to us and to fill in all columns of the table- especially existing references and documentation sources. The completed table will help us to assess the possibility of designing future research on appropriate topics, to prepare a summary report on all collected reports, and to review cases displaying potential hazards to air safety within NARCAP's mission. This will all depend on the expertise assistance this endeavor receives in response to the present call. Valencia (Spain) and Oak Harbor (Washington) (1) FOTOCAT is an in -pr ogr ess databan k of alm ost 9,0 0 0 r epor ts of UFO ph otogr aph ic cases, m an aged by th is au th or, un der th e auspices of th e An om aly Foun dation , Spain h ttp:/ / fotocat.blogspot.com / ). The plan is to post the full catalogue in to in ter n et, wh en fin ish ed, for free access to all studen ts of th e UFO subject. (2) Th e pr esen t listin g excludes th e so-called SPACE r epor ts, or sigh tin gs developed in th e ou ter space, by astron au ts an d au tom atic cam er as on boar d of satellites. Two film s fr om X-15 air cr aft h ave also been excluded as th e sigh tin gs wer e at 8 2 km of altitude. (3) Th is certain ly r eflects th e h ar d collection work by Italian specialist in pilot cases, Mar co Or lan di (AIRCAT). (4) It r esu lts fr om a special com pilation effor t to cover th e UFO ph otogr aph ic cases in Ar gen tin a, per for m ed by this autor , with th e assistan ce of Car los Fer guson . (5) Most of th e stor ies r epor ted by cosm ic broth erh ood believer Yukuse Matsu m u ra, wh o claim ed to con stan tly ph otogr aph UFOs du r in g h is busin ess fligh t tr ips. (6) Most of th em foo-figh ter s of th e for ties. Copyright 2008 National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena Copyright 2008 National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (7) All th r ee r epor ts fr om th e sam e sou rce, a Delio Ribas, ak a Fr an cisco Ar r ieta, ak a I aki Oss. (8 ) As can be an ticipated, the pr esen t auth or h as developed an in ten sive docu m en tation r esear ch on gen er al Span ish cases for FOTOCAT. (9) Most of th em foo-figh ter s of th e for ties. (10 ) It r esu lts fr om a special com pilation effor t to cover th e UFO ph otogr aph ic cases in Norway, per for m ed by th is auth or , with th e assistan ce of Ole J on n y Br aen n e. See: h ttp:/ / www.box.n et/ sh ar ed/ jz8 m qdxu ss